On the block include cloud-services firm NewBay and other recent additions

Dublin, Ireland based NewBay was quite pleased when it was scooped up by Waterloo, Ontario-based phonemaker Research in Motion, Ltd. (TSE:RIM). A union with the Canadian giant seemed a natural fit. NewBay provided cloud services -- photo, video, and social-networking tools -- while RIM had one of the largest portfolios of enterprise services, a portfolio whose gaps would be filled by the new acquisition.

But times have gone from bad to worse at RIM and now NewBay is up on the auction block as RIM tries to scrounge up the cash it needs to survive the last couple remaining money-losing quarters that stand between it and the release of its BlackBerry 10 operating system.

Reportedly, RIM paid $100M USD (£63.9M) for NewBay last October [source], but it's unlikely to get that much back, given the fast turn-around. According toReuters "other minor assets that it recently acquired" would also be up for sale.

Here's a list of RIM's recent acquisitions (courtesy of Wikipedia):

Of those listed, Jaycut, Certicom, NewBay, and The Amazing Tribe were viewed as the biggest purchases.

RIM clearly will be hanging on to Torch and QNX who hold the keys to its browser and new operating system, respectively. Certicom also seems unlikely to go, given its value to RIM's enterprise users. But Jaycut and The Amazing Tribe could be potential additions to this round of asset sales.

A minor side note -- RIM's thus far languishing tablet bid has received a bit of a boost from the release [press release] of the LTE PlayBook, which packs 32 GB of NAND flash storage, a new 1.5 GHz processor, and RIM's updated PlayBook 2.0 operating system (also QNX-based). But the price point -- $550 USD off-contract -- may sour what little sweetness the improved spec may bring.